1 Chronicles 7

Descendants of Issachar

¹The sons1 of Issachar: Tola, iPuah, jJashub, and Shimron, four. ²The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers' houses, namely of Tola, mighty warriors of their generations, their number kin the days of David being 22,600. ³The son2 of Uzzi: Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah, all five of them were chief men. ⁴And along with them, by their generations, according to their fathers' houses, were units of the army for war, 36,000, for they had many wives and sons. ⁵Their kinsmen belonging to all the clans of Issachar were in all 87,000 mighty warriors, enrolled by genealogy.

Descendants of Benjamin

⁶lThe sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, and Jediael, three. ⁷The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri, five, heads of fathers' houses, mighty warriors. And their enrollment by genealogies was 22,034. ⁸The sons of Becher: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, mAnathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher. ⁹And their enrollment by genealogies, according to their generations, as heads of their fathers' houses, mighty warriors, was 20,200. ¹⁰The son of Jediael: Bilhan. And the sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar. ¹¹All these were the sons of Jediael according to the heads of their fathers' houses, mighty warriors, 17,200, able to go to war. ¹²And Shuppim and Huppim were the sons of Ir, Hushim the son of nAher.

Descendants of Naphtali

¹³oThe sons of Naphtali: pJahziel, Guni, Jezer and qShallum, the descendants of Bilhah.

Descendants of Manasseh

¹⁴rThe sons of Manasseh: Asriel, whom his Aramean concubine bore; she bore sMachir the father of Gilead. ¹⁵And Machir took a wife for Huppim and for Shuppim. The name of his sister was Maacah. And the name of the second was Zelophehad, and tZelophehad had daughters. ¹⁶And Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she called his name Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem. ¹⁷The son of Ulam: uBedan. These were the sons of Gilead the son of Machir, son of Manasseh. ¹⁸And his sister Hammolecheth bore Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah. ¹⁹The sons of Shemida were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.

Descendants of Ephraim

²⁰The vsons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, and Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, ²¹Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath who were born in the land killed, because they came down to raid their livestock. ²²And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. ²³And Ephraim went in to his wife, and she conceived and bore a son. And he called his name Beriah, because disaster had befallen his house.3 ²⁴His daughter was Sheerah, who built both Lower and Upper wBeth-horon, and Uzzen-sheerah. ²⁵Rephah was his son, Resheph his son, Telah his son, Tahan his son, ²⁶Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, xElishama his son, ²⁷Nun4 his son, yJoshua his son. ²⁸zTheir possessions and settlements were Bethel and its towns, and to the east Naaran, and to the west aGezer and its towns, Shechem and its towns, and Ayyah and its towns; ²⁹balso in possession of the Manassites, cBeth-shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, Megiddo and its towns, Dor and its towns. In these lived the sons of Joseph the son of Israel.

Descendants of Asher

³⁰dThe sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. ³¹The sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel, who fathered Birzaith. ³²Heber fathered Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham, and their sister Shua. ³³The sons of Japhlet: Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are the sons of Japhlet. ³⁴The sons of Shemer his brother: Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram. ³⁵The sons of Helem his brother: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal. ³⁶The sons of Zophah: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah. ³⁷Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera. ³⁸The sons of Jether: Jephunneh, Pispa, and Ara. ³⁹The sons of Ulla: Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia. ⁴⁰All of these were men of Asher, heads of fathers' houses, approved, mighty warriors, chiefs of the princes. Their number enrolled by genealogies, for service in war, was 26,000 men.

1 Chronicles 8

A Genealogy of Saul

¹eBenjamin fathered Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, fAharah the third, ²Nohah the fourth, and Rapha the fifth. ³And Bela had sons: Addar, Gera, Abihud, ⁴Abishua, gNaaman, Ahoah, ⁵Gera, hShephuphan, and Huram. ⁶These are the sons of Ehud (they were heads of fathers' houses of the inhabitants of Geba, and they were carried into exile to iManahath): ⁷Naaman,1 Ahijah, and Gera, that is, Heglam, who fathered2 Uzza and Ahihud. ⁸And Shaharaim fathered sons in the country of Moab after he had sent away Hushim and Baara his wives. ⁹He fathered sons by Hodesh his wife: Jobab, Zibia, Mesha, Malcam, ¹⁰Jeuz, Sachia, and Mirmah. These were his sons, heads of fathers' houses. ¹¹He also fathered sons by Hushim: Abitub and Elpaal. ¹²The sons of Elpaal: Eber, Misham, and Shemed, who built jOno and kLod with its towns, ¹³and Beriah and lShema (they were heads of fathers' houses of the inhabitants of mAijalon, who caused the inhabitants of Gath to flee); ¹⁴and Ahio, Shashak, and Jeremoth. ¹⁵Zebadiah, Arad, Eder, ¹⁶Michael, Ishpah, and Joha were sons of Beriah. ¹⁷Zebadiah, Meshullam, Hizki, Heber, ¹⁸Ishmerai, Izliah, and Jobab were the sons of Elpaal. ¹⁹Jakim, Zichri, Zabdi, ²⁰Elienai, Zillethai, Eliel, ²¹Adaiah, Beraiah, and Shimrath were the sons of Shimei. ²²Ishpan, Eber, Eliel, ²³Abdon, Zichri, Hanan, ²⁴Hananiah, Elam, Anthothijah, ²⁵Iphdeiah, and Penuel were the sons of Shashak. ²⁶Shamsherai, Shehariah, Athaliah, ²⁷Jaareshiah, Elijah, and Zichri were the sons of Jeroham. ²⁸These were the heads of fathers' houses, according to their generations, chief men. These lived in Jerusalem.

²⁹noJeiel3 the father of Gibeon lived in Gibeon, and the name of his wife was Maacah. ³⁰His firstborn son: Abdon, then Zur, Kish, Baal, Nadab, ³¹Gedor, Ahio, Zecher, ³²and Mikloth (he fathered Shimeah). Now these also lived opposite their kinsmen in Jerusalem, with their kinsmen. ³³pNer was the father of Kish, Kish of Saul, Saul of qJonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab and Eshbaal; ³⁴and the son of Jonathan was Merib-baal; and Merib-baal was the father of rMicah. ³⁵The sons of Micah: Pithon, Melech, Tarea, and Ahaz. ³⁶Ahaz fathered Jehoaddah, and Jehoaddah fathered Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri. Zimri fathered Moza. ³⁷Moza fathered Binea; Raphah was his son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son. ³⁸Azel had six sons, and these are their names: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel. ³⁹The sons of Eshek his brother: Ulam his firstborn, Jeush the second, and Eliphelet the third. ⁴⁰The sons of Ulam were men who were mighty warriors, bowmen, having many sons and grandsons, 150. All these were Benjaminites.

By Faith

¹Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of ethings not seen. ²For by it the people of old received their commendation. ³By faith we understand that the universe was created by fthe word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of gthings that are visible.

⁴By faith hAbel offered to God ia more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And jthrough his faith, though he died, he kstill speaks. ⁵By faith lEnoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. ⁶And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God mmust believe that he exists and mthat he rewards those who seek him. ⁷By faith nNoah, being warned by God concerning oevents as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of pthe righteousness that comes by faith.

⁸By faith qAbraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place rthat he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he went to live in sthe land of promise, as in a foreign land, tliving in tents uwith Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to vthe city that has wfoundations, xwhose designer and builder is God. ¹¹By faith ySarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered zhim faithful who had promised. ¹²Therefore from one man, and ahim as good as dead, were born descendants bas many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

¹³These all died in faith, cnot having received the things promised, but dhaving seen them and greeted them from afar, and ehaving acknowledged that they were fstrangers and exiles on the earth. ¹⁴For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, gthey would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed hto be called their God, for ihe has prepared for them a city.

¹⁷By faith jAbraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, ¹⁸of whom it was said, k“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ¹⁹lHe considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. ²⁰By faith mIsaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. ²¹By faith nJacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, obowing in worship over the head of his staff. ²²By faith pJoseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

²³By faith qMoses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of rthe king's edict. ²⁴By faith Moses, when he was grown up, srefused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, ²⁵tchoosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy uthe fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶vHe considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to wthe reward. ²⁷By faith he xleft Egypt, ynot being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured zas seeing him who is invisible. ²⁸By faith ahe kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

²⁹By faith bthe people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. ³⁰By faith cthe walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹By faith dRahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she ehad given a friendly welcome to the spies.

³²And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of fGideon, gBarak, hSamson, iJephthah, of jDavid and kSamuel and the prophets— ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, lstopped the mouths of lions, ³⁴mquenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, nbecame mighty in war, nput foreign armies to flight. ³⁵oWomen received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. ³⁶Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even pchains and imprisonment. ³⁷qThey were stoned, they were sawn in two,1 rthey were killed with the sword. sThey went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy—twandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

³⁹And all these, uthough commended through their faith, udid not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰since God had provided something better for us, vthat apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Seek the Lord and Live

¹Hear this word that I ktake up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:

²“Fallen, no more to rise,

is lthe virgin Israel;

forsaken on her land,

with none to raise her up.”

³For thus says the Lord God:

“The city that went out a thousand

shall have a hundred left,

and that which went out a hundred

shall have ten left

to the house of Israel.”

⁴For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:

m“Seek me and live;

⁵but do not seek nBethel,

and do not enter into nGilgal

or cross over to oBeersheba;

for nGilgal shall surely go into exile,

and nBethel shall come to nothing.”

⁶mSeek the Lord and live,

plest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

and it devour, with none to quench it for nBethel,

⁷O qyou who turn justice to wormwood1

and cast down righteousness to the earth!

⁸He who made the rPleiades and Orion,

and turns deep darkness into the morning

and sdarkens the day into night,

who tcalls for the waters of the sea

tand pours them out on the surface of the earth,

uthe Lord is his name;

⁹vwho makes destruction flash forth against the strong,

so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

¹⁰wThey hate him who reproves xin the gate,

and they yabhor him who speaks the truth.

¹¹Therefore because you ztrample on2 the poor

and you exact taxes of grain from him,

ayou have built houses of hewn stone,

but you shall not dwell in them;

ayou have planted pleasant vineyards,

but you shall not drink their wine.

¹²For I know how many are your transgressions

and how great are your sins—

you who afflict the righteous, who btake a bribe,

and cturn aside the needy xin the gate.

¹³Therefore he who is prudent will dkeep silent in such a time,

efor it is an evil time.

¹⁴fSeek good, and not evil,

that you may live;

and so the Lord, gthe God of hosts, will be with you,

as you have said.

¹⁵hHate evil, and love good,

and establish justice xin the gate;

iit may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,

will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord, gthe God of hosts, the Lord:

“In all the squares jthere shall be wailing,

and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’

They shall call the farmers to mourning

and jto wailing those who are skilled in lamentation,

¹⁷and in all vineyards there shall be wailing,

for kI will pass through your midst,”

says the Lord.

Let Justice Roll Down

¹⁸Woe to you who desire lthe day of the Lord!

Why would you have the day of the Lord?

mIt is darkness, and not light,

¹⁹nas if a man fled from a lion,

and a bear met him,

or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,

and a serpent bit him.

²⁰mIs not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light,

and gloom with no brightness in it?

²¹o“I hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

²²pEven though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,

I will not look upon them.

²³Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to qthe melody of your harps I will not listen.

²⁴But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

²⁵r“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? ²⁶sYou tshall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, ²⁷uand I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is gthe God of hosts.

Dedication to Theophilus

¹Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that ahave been accomplished among us, ²bjust as those who cfrom the beginning were deyewitnesses and eministers of fthe word ghave delivered them to us, ³it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write han orderly account for you, imost excellent jTheophilus, ⁴that you may have kcertainty concerning the things lyou have been taught.

Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

⁵mIn the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah,1 nof othe division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶And they were both prighteous before God, walking qblamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. ⁷But they had no child, because rElizabeth was barren, and sboth were advanced in years.

⁸Now twhile he was serving as priest before God when uhis division was on duty, ⁹according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot vto enter wthe temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰And the whole multitude of the people xwere praying youtside at the hour of incense. ¹¹And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of zthe altar of incense. ¹²And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and afear fell upon him. ¹³But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for byour prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and cyou shall call his name John. ¹⁴And you will have joy and gladness, and many will drejoice at his birth, ¹⁵for he will be egreat before the Lord. And fhe must not drink wine or strong gdrink, and ghe will be hfilled with the Holy Spirit, ieven from his mother's womb. ¹⁶And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, ¹⁷and jhe will go before him kin the spirit and power of Elijah, lto turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and mthe disobedient to the wisdom of the just, nto make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

¹⁸And Zechariah said to the angel, o“How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” ¹⁹And the angel answered him, “I am pGabriel. qI stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ²⁰And behold, ryou will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” ²¹And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in sthe temple. ²²And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in sthe temple. And the kept making signs to them and remained mute. ²³And uwhen his time of vservice was ended, he went to his home.

²⁴After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, ²⁵“Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, wto take away my reproach among people.”

Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶In the sixth month the angel xGabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named yNazareth, ²⁷zto a virgin betrothed2 to a man whose name was Joseph, aof the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸And he came to her and said, “Greetings, bO favored one, cthe Lord is with you!”3 ²⁹But dshe was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for eyou have found favor with God. ³¹And behold, fyou will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and gyou shall call his name Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of hthe Most High. And the Lord God iwill give to him the throne of jhis father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob kforever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”4

³⁵And the angel answered her, l“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of hthe Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born5 will be called mholy—nthe Son of God. ³⁶And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her owho was called barren. ³⁷For pnothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant6 of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And qthe angel departed from her.